West Bromwich Albion 2-0 Bournemouth: Baggies keep slim play-off chances alive
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Andy Carroll has scored two goals in his past four games for West Brom
West Bromwich Albion kept their slim play-off chances alive with victory over Championship promotion hopefuls Bournemouth.
The Baggies were 2-0 up inside 12 minutes at The Hawthorns through Alex Mowatt's long-range strike and Andy Carroll's powerful finish.
Carroll was a menace throughout and almost doubled his tally early in the second half when he prodded Grady Diangana's pass just wide.
Bournemouth, who dominated possession but failed to get any of their 17 shots on target, improved after the break as the hosts dropped deeper.
Jordan Zemura missed their best chance when he skewed over on the slide and the Baggies closed out the game under huge pressure.
West Brom are seven points outside the play-offs with six matches remaining and would realistically need to win all of those games to stand a chance of sneaking in.
Second-placed Bournemouth remain six points above third-placed Huddersfield and still have games in hand on their promotion rivals.
The Cherries have conceded the second fewest goals in the division this season, but it was two lapses of concentration which led to the hosts' quickfire double.
First Darnell Furlong's cross was only half cleared to Mowatt whose shot hit the ground and bounced past goalkeeper Mark Travers.
Nathaniel Phillips then missed a long ball down the middle from England keeper Sam Johnstone and Carroll showed strength to hold off Adam Smith before firing in from six yards.
Nottingham Forest's victory over Coventry which took them fifth means the Baggies only moved one point closer to the play-offs.
But they face two out-of-form mid-table sides in Stoke and Blackpool next before a potentially crunch game at Forest on Easter Monday.
Bournemouth's run-in is less than favourable with games against most of their promotion rivals to come.
West Brom manager Steve Bruce told BBC Radio WM:
"In the last two home games we've beaten the top two teams and deservedly so.
"That's a frustration for us but we'll keep working away. There's a lot of work to be done still, but it's pleasing when you can play against the top teams and win convincingly.
"Big Andy (Carroll) was rolling back the years. He gave a real performance of a centre-forward and I'm delighted to see him well and stay fit."
Bournemouth head coach Scott Parker told BBC Radio Solent:
"It fell down giving them two goals which we gave up really easily, two poor goals.
"Then the game became very difficult for us against a stubborn team, a team who packed the penalty box.
"We had a lot of shots, I don't think we had one on target, it was a real crowded penalty box and we struggled at those moments. We didn't have the quality in the final third to find those little openings."